Chapter One
Prologue Chapter One The heavens burned with a silent fury as a strange and arcane malady took hold, the distant light of stars, once shining so brightly now waned as the pure white energy of their lives dwindled and was consumed by the convulsing flicker of colors born of nightmares and fever dreams. The Aether itself roiling over into reality as it stained the pure black of night with all the livery of half remembered thoughts, churning a rainbow of hues from the most velvet of purples to the most gruesome of reds so beautiful and horrific that it hurt to look upon them, and yet look she did. Silent and stoic as a statue, she stood witness to the unraveling of reality itself as fissures in the skin of time and space began to form, like great ravenous maws they sucked at the stuff of the universe, pulling all within reach into their maddening depths while belching forth winds sired in madness and tendrils of lightning so wondrous that their touch lingered upon space itself. Wild and free from their prison the winds cradled the girl in their embrace, whispering to her mind of things beyond the scope of mortal comprehension as tongues free of form poured honeyed words and promises into her soul. Their chilling touch tugging on her long navy blue gown and playing with her long dark hair as they coaxed and goaded, tempting her from her reverie until all at once a shudder ran through the cosmos itself, its presence felt as a great cold rising up from within her and causing her to turn her gaze away from the sky and towards the cracked and dying world beneath her feet. The land itself was an arid wasteland, tainted beyond redemption by countless acts of butchery and murder as even still the bones of the dead lay half buried beneath the earth, the darkened eyes of the dead staring at all who came with a hateful envy as their souls screamed from beyond. But the souls of the land too now sat silent, their burning rage forgotten as fear cast its pall over them and the stuff of reality tore itself apart, appearing at first as a seething mass just beyond the realms of mortal vision and quickly becoming a bubbling, twisting thing as the veil between the material and immaterial struggled to maintain substance until, like the birthing of a foul god it split and showered the dead lands in a rain of light and color. Out of this rent stepped forth a being the girl struggled to look upon, its appearance searing the mind as it flickered in an out of reality, its form bathed in the hellish lights of unknown dimensions as within the image of a woman, tall, beautiful and fierce beyond imagining struggled to be seen through a curtain of demonic visage. Its massive armored hide gnarled and twisted in mockery of the human form as a pair of bestial legs bore it aloft, its still visibly female torso baring uncountable scars which made themselves known as fanged mouths dripping with blood and secrets as a thousand eyes bubbled to the surface and looked out upon this new world, each appearing like a blister before bursting and disappearing back into the mercurial form of its bearer. From deep within this devil the girl could feel a growing power, a building rumbled like thunder which seemed to shake the very air itself as from burning purple orbs held within sunken sockets of charred flesh it stared out at her, its skeletal face belying the seething life within as eldritch fires lurked within its core, shining baleful light through the vertical slits of its nostrils and between its sharp predatory teeth while intoxicatingly colored smoke flowed forth like water, rising up and accentuating the massive horns which adored the rest of its skull like a great daemonic crown, promising a rule of pain and misery to all who would oppose its owner. With an elegance that made the girl weep in her frozen terror, it stepped forth, the force of its presence causing the earth beneath its clawed feet to weep and burn as blood rose in pools and sizzled, coloring the surrounding land black as the corruption spread out like a cancer and gave passage to other beings who loomed patiently just beyond. Their distinctly humanoid forms rising, blood soaked and brazen as they howled and roared birth cries of hate with each labored motion to free themselves, standing to reveal twisted and daemonic visions of knighthood, their armored bodies clad in crimson flesh and silver bone which had been molded or grown to portray a terrible nobility and malicious intention as the purple heartfire of their mistress burned and shone from within, piercing the openings of their helms and cracks of their armor to punctuate their aura of dread as one became two, and two become legion as this nightmare army marched forward. All seemed set, the air itself had grown ice cold and one by one the sick lights of the night sky died out, blinking out of existence as a palpable darkness consumed them, extinguishing all life which lay within reach before expanding outward like a great ravenous leviathan. 'The End is Nigh' She thought to herself as the words, not her own, came unbidden to her mind and revealed the nature of the horror which was unfolding throughout the cosmos, while she, here, stood at its epicenter, watching the daemonic host advance as their mistress, the twice seen creature, both woman and beast raised a clawed, brutal hand with the same gentle elegance of its stride and pointed to her. The deafening force within building to its final crescendo as opening its maw wide it let loose a scream which shattered the final frail walls that held the universe together, its call like silk clad knives cutting into the very fabric of her being with a pain so amazing that she embraced the oblivion it promised and in a final moment of life, looked into the heavens to see the swirling chaos which had birthed it. A storm without beginning or end raged all around, its gusting winds filthy with sights and sounds as colors beyond counting burst into being only to disappear and be swallowed once more, voices screamed and sung in a cacophony of languages and tones as old as time and as new as the birth of the stars while figures appeared, like flotsam at the mercy of the tide being thrown out of the waters only to be drawn back under. It was madness without respite and it would consume all as it was consuming her, stripping away all she was like ash against the gale until only the baleful light of the damned remained and with a final gasp, she was no more. --- "Are you... alright?" The honeyed but measured words of Ciq Emril enquired as sitting at her vanity she slowly brushed her long caramel hair, taking great care to gently comb the thin porcelain bristles through the glistening locks as she took them in her soft, delicate hands. Her hazel eyes staring from beneath powerful brows with the same predatory curiosity they always did as they watched a young girl slowly rise from her bed, her body filling with the same restless energy it did every morning as she stretched and silently yawned after another restless night of mumblings and motions. "Hmm?" Ilona groaned as she swung her legs over the edge of her modest bed and looked over at her bunk mate who sat beside her at their shared vanity, wearing little more than the simple white gown all the girls of the dormatory wore as she attended her personal morning rituals. "You were restless again" Ciq stated matter of factly as her eyes moved away from Ilona, having registered the girl as little more than a distraction and returning her gaze to the wandering bodies which strolled past the bunk, listening intently to the gossip of young women and the sounds of waking life. Ilona herself shrugging as she always did, muttering the briefest; "Oh?" With disinterest as she took to her feet and marched mechanically to her amoire which stood against the wall perpendicular to the vanity, forming the cozy and spartan cubicle that was their bunk area as she opened its large wooden doors and withdrew a towel and small bag.